Australia's national multicultural broadcaster, SBS aired the first of a two part documentary last night about the 90% of us that isn't us, ie all the minute bacterial cells that outnumber our body cells by a factor of 10.

"There is an unexplored planet in the Solar System.This planet is the human body and it’s teeming with unknown ecosystems. Our bodies are home to a trillion cells that are not us. This hidden world of 'bugs' is brought to life through personal accounts, scientific breakthroughs and special imaging technology."

The first episode explores in some detail how reliant we are on maintaining a healthy human microbiome to keep us healthy. Rather chilling is the story of a man that ended up nearly losing is leg from a rampaging staphylococcal infection from a small cut he received while going for a swim in a hotel pool.

Australians that missed last night's episode can watch the hour long episode via the following web page:

I loved this post. Just the sort of thing I would watch if it came on the TV in the USA. Nature is so fasinating. The power, complexity and the beauty. I think our bodies want and know how to heal us but are now somehow lacking some component. Our bodies fight off cancer our whole lives but now we CLLers have hit a wall. Hopefully researchers are looking at all options.

The series: Life On Us is available on Google Play and I Tunes here in the USA. Looks a little "creepy" but super interesting. I'm going to watch it.